


Home

by ichikonohakko



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: M/M, Multiplicity/Plurality, but a runaway washuu family member, follows the washuu! hide theory, in which hide isn't a normal college student at all, loosely follows the entire canon with hide's perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 04:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6105058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ichikonohakko/pseuds/ichikonohakko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Home is a difficult word for Hide.</p><p>((Because Home for Nagachika Hideyoshi is by the cramped balcony of Kaneki's apartment, talking to his best friend under the stars while Home for Washuu Hideyoshi is the thing that stalks his every step along the way))</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

i.

His apartment door is unlocked, like how he always left it. Hide knew that no matter how much he tried to live his life like a normal college student who 9 out of 10 times would get robbed when they leave their apartments unlocked, it just doesn’t go that way for him.

He could see that someone had tidied up his previously messy apartment, replaced the old perishables with the new ones, and as usual, a single letter written in expensive ink on top of a parchment (who uses them nowadays?) addressed to ‘Young Master Washuu Hideyoshi’ was laid on his pantry.

Without bothering to see the content, Hide took the letter and chucked it to his trash can. He wasn’t Washuu Hideyoshi anyway. His name is Nagachika Hide, an outgoing popular college student who only had one best friend that tailed him everywhere he went. Kaneki Ken was the very thing that validated and differentiated Washuu Hideyoshi and Nagachika Hide, and he preferred to have a single friend that seemed aware that he never talked about his home life but didn’t bother to say anything.

Smiling as he felt his phone vibrate on his pocket, Hide fished out the phone and smiled at the mundane reminder text Kaneki sent him every night to make sure that he does his homework. Washuu Hideyoshi always loved the simplicity of Nagachika Hide’s life, really.

 

ii.

It was a mundane thing, really, but it happened and it made Hide’s heart skip a beat.

“Go home, Hide.”

In his head, Hide knew perfectly that Kaneki said this because he was annoyed at Hide’s antics, like he usually does. But his heart raced nonetheless; because thousands of unpleasant memories—

_(Good morning, young master—)_

_(No freedom, no escape but death—)_

_(The room was dark, and he sat on the end of the table while another person sat on the other end. They were eating dinner and all he could do was nod and smile at absolutely everything—)_

_(The glory of the Washuu Family—)_

_(You can run, young master, but you cannot hide forever—)_

—resurfaced at the word _home_. Hide stared at Kaneki long and hard to see if he realized that his hair was dyed blond every other week to hide his real jet-black Washuu hair, only to see Kaneki sighing an apology and invited him to spend the night in his apartment.

Nagachika Hide, of course, smiled and grinned.

“Yeah, sure!”

 

iii.

It had been a good thing that his mother loved him. She was a beautiful woman with who had devoted her entire life for researching ghouls and high societies and the Washuus had decided that she was too dangerous to be left alone. She had been married off to one of the Washuu sons and was kept in-house while the Family peruse her research. When Hide turned 10, she asked him if he wanted to live outside the walls, and Hide said yes.

She changed his name, dyed his hair, and picked out common clothes as opposed to the prime suits he was given as a child bearing the Washuu name. And with only a red-colored headphone and more money than Hide knew what to do with as a gift, she sent him outside with a smile and he never saw her again.

A few months later, Hide read her obituary in a newspaper. They said she had contracted an incurable illness and the world will grieve for such a beautiful woman. Hide bit his lower lip. Mom was a lively woman who was healthy as a horse. He didn’t know what happened to her, but it must have been a repercussion for releasing him outside.

Hide lived alone, with a man who introduced himself solely as ‘Nagachika’ tend to his every need coming every once in a month. He adopted his surname and lived his life as Nagachika Hideyoshi, whose ‘father’ just moved in town and befriended Kaneki.

He fell in love with him, somewhere along the way. Nagachika Hide fell so hard for Kaneki Ken and yet he constantly looked backwards to find Washuu Hideyoshi feeling utterly conflicted about this new and simple life and the fact that he loved it so very much.

 

iv.

When Kaneki disappeared, Hideyoshi was devastated.

Both Washuu Hideyoshi and Nagachika Hideyoshi fumbled. Both utterly and desperately trying to find the person who had been the source of their happiness all this time. He tried everything, he even infiltrated as a coffee boy in CCG just to find the very person who maintained everything that made him ‘Hide’. His hair got longer, and he still dyed it every week. He needed to find Kaneki, no matter what resource he exhausted.

 

v.

Hide didn’t know what to do.

He couldn’t find Kaneki using ordinary means. It was impossible to find his best friend and Hide was getting desperate.

Hide walked home, his hair more black than blond and he lifelessly turned the knob his apartment door only to find it as polished as ever. He slumped towards the sofa to see the usual envelope on his coffee table instead of the pantry.

Hideyoshi reached towards the envelope to see the usual cursive _To Young Master Washuu Hideyoshi_ on the front, only this time he decided to open the envelope to see what was inside.

_We will get you to the Eyepatch during the Anteiku Raid._

_You know where to find us._

Hide bit his lower lip, but then sighed a shaky laugh.

“I guess it’s time to go home, then.”

Funny. The word home had always meant a night in Kaneki’s cramped balcony, watching the stars as Kaneki made nerdy comments about constellations while he laughed and ask stupid questions. But as he said it, Hideyoshi felt like he was talking about a dark place that stalked his every step along the way.

 

vi.

‘Nagachika’ escorted him into the sewers, his face obscured by the CCG helmet, but Hide knew that the other was wishing him a good luck.

His contract was clear. He will be able to see Kaneki, talk to him, tell him that it was okay and that he knew that he had been turned into a ghoul and he didn’t mind any of that. But what happens _after_ that? Hide didn’t think that far ahead.

So he saw him, his friend, now with white hair and his eyes looked sad even when they were obscured with a mask. Kaneki looked utterly surprised to see him, and Hide could hear the broken whisper of _‘thisisadream thisisadream Hidecan’tbehere’_ but what broke him was Kaneki’s desperate whisper of _‘he’ll find out that I’m a ghoul….’_ and Hide went closer to him. “I already know all that,” _I went around the CCG for you, I even went back to the walls to find you._ “Let’s just go home, okay?”

Back to the cramped balcony of Kaneki’s apartment, with smiles on their faces as they gaze upon the stars…

But then he heard the footsteps and clicked his tongue. ‘Nagachika’ must have called them here, damn him.

So he urged his best friend to get up, to fight one last time before everything will be okay. Hide gave an arm to energize Kaneki and watched as the other went on rampage to kill everyone who dared to attack him. Hideyoshi had a smile on his face, even when the world blurred around him as he lost too much of his blood. He had saved Kaneki, he did it.

Then he saw ‘Nagachika’ for a split second before everything turned into nothingness.

.

.

.

.

.

 

i.

Hideyoshi was on his bed, nursing his newly-made artificial arm as he turned on the TV for the morning news. He looked towards a newly-promoted investigator from an artificial ghoul squad named Quinx making a speech to thank everyone involved in the operation and he felt his heart ache. But he couldn’t quite place why.

Then his lips run as he reached towards the screen. “Home…”

But then the door opened, Nagachika came in with his breakfast and greeted him with the usual smile his butler always had.

“Good morning, Young Master Hideyoshi.”

And Hideyoshi smiled back.

“I’m home, Nagachika.”


End file.
